Folding cot



- J. MALIS FOLDING COT Filed Nov. 24, 1925 IN VEN'TO Jc/V/Malz'siWIT/V5515 v gym Patented Oct. 5,1926. 7 1,502,115

UNi-TD STATES PATENT JACK MALIS, or PHILADELPHIA, rnnnsynvnma.

ronnmeco'r.

Application filed November 24, 1925. Serial n.71,o41

Folding cots comprising a wooden or methem firmly imposition. As cotframes of tallic foldable frame anda piece of canvas the generalcharacter .referred to are in comor webbing, which may be convenientlymen use and of well known construction and termed the cover, arranged tobe tightly eX- as the precise details thereof vformno part 60 tendedacross the frame when the cot is unof the, present invention, furtherdescripfolded and set up are in common use and my 'tion of the framewould be superfluous.

invention relates to cots of this general char- It has hitherto beencustomary to associacter, a principalvobject thereof being to ate Withthe frame a cover of canvas, web-.

materially enhance the comfort of the cot hing or other single plymaterial in such 65 without making it materially more bulky manner thatwhen the frame is extended the when folded or greatly adding to the costcover Will be stretched tightly between the of manufacture, side and endrails in both'directions' so as to A further object of the inventioniscto proprovide a more or less resilient or yielding vide forfoldablecots a cover of novel charsupport for a person lying onuthe cot, the 735 acter which may be employed with equal attachment of the cover to theframe being facility on cots having either a wooden or a usuallyeffected, when the frame is of wood, m t lli frame d hi h, h n o u ed,by permanently tacking thelateral edges of makes the cot very much morecomfortable the cover to the side rails and providing the to a personlying thereon or sitting thereon ends of the cover with loops throughwhich in which latter position the side orend rails eend rails areslipped when the cot is be of the cot rest beneath the knees of theocing set up. In case the side rails are of cupant. v y 3 metal,however, so as to prevent the edges I My invention further includesother variof the cover from being conveniently tacked ous objects andnovel features-of design, conto them, the cover is frequently provided80 5 struction and arrangement hereinafter more with loops on the sidesthrough which the definitely specified and d rib d or hich' siderailsare extended ina manner substanwill be apparent from theaccompanying tially similar to the arrangement at the drawing in which Ihaveillustrated a cot en s 7 Y embodying my invention I have found thatthe comfort of the cot 39 Insaid drawing, in which the same nummay begreatly enhanced if, instead of utierals are used to designate likeparts lining as-a cover a sheet of single ply mathroughout, Fig. 1 is aperspective view of terial such as canvas or the like, a composite thecot unfolded and set upfor use; Fig. 2 cover be employed, said coverbeing comis a top plan View of the cover with its side rp s dof twoplies of canvas, drilling or simedges extended into the'plane ofitscentral ilar material with an interlining of felt, portion and alsofragmentarily showing the Wool, cotton or similar soft and more or lessend rails of the cot; Fig. 3-is'an enlarged resilient and yieldingmaterial in association fragmentary section on line 3-.3 in Fig. 1; withmeans, such as stitching, operative to Fi t similar section on line t-4in Fig. prevent the fulling up or bunching of the 5 40 2 and Fig. 5afragmentary section on line interlinmg which, in the absence of such 55 i id fi u v means, would be likely to arise from the As shown,the cotcomprises three pairs of movements of the person occupying the cot,

legs 1, 2 and 3, each pair being hinged'to said means, however, being sodisposed as gether approximately at their centers by to permit the,cover to yield more or less 190 suitable hinges so that they may befolded laterally, that is, in a directlon at right into substantiallyparallel relation or eX- angles to theslde rails, so as to enable thetended to a relatively angular position as v r to conform to some extentto the body shown in Fig. 1. Secured to the upper eX- of the personlying upon it.

tremities of the legs are longitudinally eX- Morespecifically, I preferto provide a tending spaced rails l, 5 each'rail being (11- cover,generally designated as G, comprisvided and hinged near its center as at4, 5 111g an upper ply 1-Oand a lower ply 11 of so that the two partsmay be folded up on thin canvas, drill or the like between which eachother, the ends of the rails being conis disposed a relatively thininterlining' or nected, when the cot is unfolded, by removafilling 12consisting of one or more layers or 110 ble cross rails 6 and 7, afunction of which sheets of cotton, wool or other similar re- ,is tospread the side rails apart and hold. silient and yielding material. Inorder to hold the filling in proper position within the covering pliesand to prevent it from bunching up or sliding about relative thereto, Iprovide the cover with a plurality of rows of laterally spaced stitching14 which extend from one end of the cover to the other, the rows beingdisposed, at any suitable distanoe apart, for example, about threeinches.

It is to be noted, however, that the lining or filling of the cover isrelatively thin so that when the cot is folded the bulk thereof is notmaterially increased over the bulk, when folded, of a cot of the usualconstruction and the cover of which is formed ofa single ply ofmaterial. I have found from practical trials of a cot that the desireddegree of comfort can be secured by the employment of such a relativelythin lining and that a very marked improvement is thereby effected overthe comfort of the ordinary form'of cot, and Itherefore desire it to beunderstood that my invention does not contemplate the use of arelatively thick lining such as is employed in an ordinary bed mattress.I attribute the material enhancement of the comfort of the cot when acover constructed in accordance with my invention is employed to thefact that in the ordinary cot the single ply cover is stretched verytightly over the frame and does not there fore conform particularly wellto the body of the occupant, while my improved cover, although stretchedsimilarly over the frame as hereinafter described, can, owing to itscomposite construction, conform a little more readily to the body whilethe relatively thin lining serves to cushion the body somewhat from theslightly stretched covering plies. Thus the effect is not the same andthe comfort of the cot is much greater than in the case where anordinary thick bed mattress is merely removably laid upon the single plycover of an ordinary cot, for under these conditions the very thicknessof the mattress itself prevents the cover from conforming to the body ofthe occupant so that the resiliency of the mattress stuifing must berelied on almost entirely to give the cushioning effect necessary forcomfort.

In its preferred embodiment, the cover is devoid of stitching extendingtransversely across it, save near its ends, as such stitching tends toprevent lateral sagging or stretching of the cover under the weight ofthe occupants body, which is desirable in assisting the cover to conformthereto and the absence of which, or material diminution thereof, isinimical to the securing of the maximum amount ofcomfort.

The precise shape of the cover and the particular provisions made tofacilitate its attachment to the frame of the cot will of course vary inaccordance with the requirements of the latter and its particular designbut, as shown in the drawings, in any case I prefer to arrange the coverso that it will extend over the side and end rails of the cot when thelatter is unfolded and thus form at these points a cushion between therails and the legs of the occupant when sitting on the cot with his feeton the floor. To effect these results and as shown, I may-double thecover back on itself at each end 15 (see Fig. 4) and secure the endbeneath the body of the cover by a line of transversely extendingstitches 16, thus forming a loop 17 through which the end rail of thecot may be slipped. The side edges of the cover may be either thepassage of the side rails turned over the side rails and tacked in placewith tacks 18 as best shown in Fig. 3. Ordinarily the corners of thecover will be cut away as best shown in Fig. 2 and the cover also cutaway on each side about at its center, as at 19, to facilitate thefolding operation and, preferably, the cover at these cut away portionsmay be bound with a suitable binding as best shown in Fig. 5 so as tomake a neat finish at these points.

It will thus be observed that my improved cover is attached to andfoldable with the frame of the cot in exactly the same way as the singleply covers hitherto in use and that owing to its relative thinness itdoes not materially add to the bulk of the folded cot while, when thecot is extended, it serves, as hitherto stated, to materially enhancethe comfort of the cot to a person lying thereon and also operates tocushion the le s of the person seated on'the cot at the point where thelegs pass over the rails, this latter feature, though perhaps asubordinate one, being a great improvement on the ordinary form of cotwhich is extremely uncomfortable when used as a seat as the side or endrails, as the case may be, press deeply into the occupants thighs justabove the knee and quickly render a change of position necessary.

While I have herein described and illustrated with considerableparticularity a preferred embodiment of my invention I do not therebydesire or intend to limit myself to the precise details of constructionand arrangement to which I have referred as the same may be modified invarious particulars and the shape of the cover altered to adapt thecover to different styles and sizes of cots without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to protect byLetters Patent of the United States:

1. A cot comprising a foldable frame havi g side and end rails and acover comprising upper and lower plies of flexible mate rial and arelatively thin filling of resilient material disposed therebetween,said cover or elsesimply similarly provided with loops for a beingoperatively attached to said rails and being operativ'ely attached tosaid rails and having laterally spaced rows of stitching eX- havinglaterally spaced rows of stitching tending longitudinally of the cotfrom one extending longitudinally of the cot from one end or" the coverto the other through the end of the cover to the other through the saidplies and filling, and permitting a latsaid plies and filling, andpermitting a lateral yielding of the cover transversely of eral yieldingof the cover transversely of the the cot to permit the cover to conformto the cot, the marginal portions of the cover passoccupant. ing aroundthe rails of the frame and cush- 2. A cot comprising a foldable framehavioning the said rails to protect the legs of a ing side and end railsand a cover comprisperson sitting upon the cot.

ing upper and lower plies of flexible mate- In witness whereof, I havehereunto set rial and a relatively thin filling of resilient my handthis 21st day of November, 1925. material disposed therebetween, saidcover JACICMALIS.

